


Into the Woods

by Laparoscopic



Category: Katawa Shoujo
Genre: Gen, Reiichi (OC)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:42:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23174125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laparoscopic/pseuds/Laparoscopic
Summary: Close encounters of the Miki kind.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Into the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a writing competition on the Katawa Shoujo discord.

Hanako wandered slowly along the path through the woods behind the school. The air was still and oppressive, and even the birds and insects seemed muted. The whole world lay stifled under the late summer heat. The sun’s relentless impact was lessened by the leaves overhead, but the promise—or rather, threat—of its heat could be felt in the random shafts of light that pierced the canopy overhead. 

She had left the sweltering dorms for the promise of the shade in the woods, hoping to find some relief on this quiet Sunday afternoon, but relief was not forthcoming. It wasn’t just the heat that oppressed her, but her solitude. In the two weeks since Lilly had left for Scotland, Hanako had come to realize just how fully dependent upon Lilly she had become over the last couple of years. Naomi and Natsume had begun to fill some small parts of the void Lilly had left behind, but Hanako was slowly realizing that there were things that they could not provide her, things she had not even fully realized that she needed. Things she had, most improbably, taken for granted.

 _I really want a hug_ , she sighed to herself. It felt cruel, in a way, that Lilly could have reminded her what she was missing, only to take it away. She had survived for years in the orphanage with only occasional hugs from Mama Ando to feed her desire for human contact, so that she had gradually lost— _quashed_ —her desire for more. By and large, contact with other children at the orphanage had been harsh, unpleasant, and undesired. It really hadn’t taken that much effort for her to suppress almost all of her desire for any sort of interaction or physical contact with other people. 

At least, until Lilly came into her life. Beautiful, sweet, kind Lilly, who had no idea what Hanako looked like, and so wasn’t repulsed by her. Who had hugged her unreservedly, with genuine warmth and affection. 

She was about to turn around and head back to the dorms when she heard an unusual sound. A low soft sound, almost like the sound of someone in pain. But it came, not from the path in front of or behind her, but from the side, off in the woods. Looking into the woods, she could see a small footpath, worn into the dirt by students or wildlife, heading towards a brighter spot that looked like an open meadow a few dozen meters away. She hesitated a moment, then heard the sound again. She didn’t really want to see another person at the moment—unless, somehow, Lilly could be magically transported here—but the thought of abandoning someone who might be hurt was unconscionable.

She stepped off the paved, wheelchair accessible path onto the dirt path leading through the underbrush. “H-hello?” she called out hesitantly, but her voice was swallowed up in the heat and the shrubs. She moved cautiously, not comfortable with such untamed byways. 

She heard the sound again, and froze, her face flushing red as she finally recognized it for what it was—not a groan of pain, but of passion. And more than one voice. She wondered who would be making such noises, in an outdoor setting, on such a sweltering day. She knew she should return to the civilized path, take the trail back to her lonely dorm room, leaving the unknown persons to their privacy, but her sexual curiosity warred with her moral sensibilities. 

_I really shouldn’t..._

She bit her lip, and crept toward the clearing. _But...as long as I’m careful...no one will know..._

Watching her feet for wayward branches—she’d read enough fantasy novels where the hero was given away by stepping on a branch while sneaking up on the bad guys in the woods—she crept slowly forward. The sensual moans grew louder, punctuated by soft wet kissing sounds and throaty sounding chuckles. She saw a flash of white t-shirts though the branches, and slowed down to an even more cautious tiptoe. 

She saw a flash of brown skin, and her suspicion as to the identity of one of the people she was... _observing_...was confirmed when she heard Miki’s voice a moment later. “Slow down there, hot stuff. We gotta get back to practice.”

Some unknown boy responded, sounding breathless and disappointed. “Ah, c’mon, Mik, we can just tell them we went for an extra five kilometers.”

“First off, it’s Miki, not Mik—if you wanna use a nickname, call me Big Sexy.” The boy laughed. “Secondly, I don’t care how hot and heavy we get, we’d never look like we just ran ten K.” 

Hanako cautiously poked her head out around a tree that was big enough to conceal her body. Some five meters away were Miki and a boy, both in track uniforms. Miki was leaning back against a tree, and the boy was leaning against her. Their hands were under each other’s shirts, and Hanako suspected that his hands were under Miki’s bra. 

Miki gave the boy a quick kiss on the lips, then pushed him away from her, straightening up from her slouch against the tree. He made a disappointed noise, but didn’t press. Miki reached under her shirt to re-adjust her bra, and Hanako swallowed hard as she saw the boy try to reposition the bulge in his track shorts to a less awkward position. Something he was having difficulty with. Miki giggled at his predicament as she reached down the front of her t-shirt to resettle her breasts in her jock bra. 

“Come on, ‘Big Sexy,’ you’re not gonna blue-ball me like this, are you?” he asked plaintively. 

Miki leaned forward and did something with her mouth on the far side of his neck that Hanako couldn’t see, but which made him—and his erection—jump. “Let’s continue this discussion after dinner tonight. Say, eight o’clock, in your room?”

He nodded vigorously, a wide grin on his face. “Sounds good.” Then his grin faltered. “But...I’ve got a history paper due tomorrow.”

Miki shrugged. “Priorities, dude. You don’t wanna taste of this gorgeous bod, just let me know.”

He closed his eyes, his face scrunched up in what looked like very real pain. “Goddammit,” he muttered. Then he opened his eyes and countered, “How about nine o’clock? I should be able to finish by then.”

Miki scowled. “Well, now I see where _I_ rank in your priorities.”

“C’mon, Miki—” he began to protest, but she cut him off with a laugh.

“I’m just fucking with you, Reiichi. I’ll see ya at nine.”

He flashed her a grateful smile. Hanako noticed that their conversation had served to distract him enough for the tent in his shorts to recede. Mostly. 

“You head back to the track first. We don’t wanna arrive at the same time.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He gave his shorts a final adjusting tug, then turned toward the path that Hanako had crept up. She suppressed a squeak of terror, and tried to sidle silently around the tree so he wouldn’t see her as he went by. Fortunately, he seemed as focused on the ground as she had been—one of his legs was a prosthetic, she saw, which would explain his attention to his footing on the woodland path. He passed by her “hiding” spot without looking up, and Hanako breathed a silent sigh of relief. She watched him go, her nerves not bad enough to prevent her from enjoying the view of his broad muscular shoulders, which tapered down to an equally attractive backside. 

“Cute ass, huh?” Miki whispered behind her. 

Hanako clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from screeching out loud. She spun around to face Miki and almost lost her footing on the uneven ground of tree roots. To her shock, Miki grabbed her arm and wrapped her stump around Hanako’s back to keep her from falling. “Hey, shhh, ‘sallright,” she muttered quietly. 

Reiichi arrived at the paved path, and began jogging away. 

“M-m-m-m-m—“ Hanako stammered, her shock and embarrassment rendering her speech-locked. Her face was flaming red with shame at having been caught spying on the amorous couple.

“Miki, yeah, that’s me,” said Miki cheerfully. 

Hanako was bewildered by the fact that Miki didn’t seem to be offended or upset to find a peeping Tom had been observing her. She gave up on trying to say Miki’s name, and took a shuddering breath to calm herself. 

“Did’ja like the show?” Miki asked with a grin. “How much did you see?”

Hanako just stared back at Miki, unable to form a coherent answer to the unexpected question. She was sufficiently disconcerted that it took her a long moment to realize that Miki had not let go of her after grabbing her to keep her from falling. Having realized it, she found she didn’t really want to pull away. It was the most human contact she’d had since Lilly had left. “I...I’m sorry,” she eventually managed to say.

“For what? Watching?” Miki shrugged before Hanako could even respond. “Doesn’t bother me. It’s kinda sexy, actually.”

“Oh.” Hanako’s heartbeat slowed and her blush faded as Miki’s words sank in. It seemed like she wasn’t going to get yelled at, or shamed, or beat up. “Th-thank you.”

Miki laughed, and finally let go of Hanako. Hanako repressed a whimper of disappointment. “For what? The show?”

Hanako shook her head. “For not getting...angry.” 

“Eh. I got a fair bit of education watching my brother in the hayloft with the neighbor girl. This is just turnabout, fair play and all that, right?”

Hanako blinked at that notion. “I d-didn’t see...much. Really. Less than...a minute or so.”

“Your loss. Reiichi is a good kisser, you might have learned something.”

Hanako grimaced. “N-not that I’ll ever...need to know how to k-kiss,” she muttered.

“Aww, don’t say that. You’re real pretty. Someone’ll kiss you someday.”

Hanako gave Miki a flat stare. “Pretty. _Me.”_ She waved her hand at the right side of her face. Apparently she was going to get mocked after all. 

Miki rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you got scars. So what? So does practically everyone else, they’re just more obvious here at Yamaku. You’re really pretty.”

“R-right,” Hanako muttered, and turned to leave before Miki could mock her more. 

“Wait—” Miki grabbed Hanako’s wrist, cutting off her escape. “Wait, I know you think I’m bullshitting you, but I’m not.”

Hanako jerked against Miki’s grip, but it was like an iron vise. She tried to glare at Miki for restraining her, but she didn’t have the nerve to maintain eye contact for more than a split second before looking down at the ground. She hid behind her hair, annoyed at herself for her weakness and cowardice. 

But Miki loosened her grip on Hanako’s wrist, and moved it to her bicep, less a restraining gesture and more one of friendliness. “Listen, Hana, I don’t bullshit—”

“Hanako,” Hanako blurted out. No one had called her Hana since _before._ She flicked a glance up at Miki before looking back down at the ground. She echoed Miki’s words: “If you w-want to use...a nickname, call me...Big Ugly.”

“Fuck that shit,” said Miki, startling Hanako into looking back up at her. Miki was scowling at her. “The only thing ugly about you is that attitude.”

Hanako cringed in the face of Miki’s anger. “S-s-sorry.”

“For _what?”_ Miki demanded, sounding exasperated.

Hanako floundered for a reason. It was practically an instinctive reaction for her to apologize when someone around her was angry. “For...upsetting you?”

Miki released Hanako’s arm to bury her face in her hand. She raised her stump too, as if to bury her face in both hands.“Ah, _shit_ , girl. That’s not what you need to apologize for,” she muttered into her hand. 

“S-sorry,” Hanako repeated. 

Miki dropped her hand and stump to glare at Hanako. “Gah! And it’s not _me_ you need to apologize to—it’s _you_.”

“Wh-what?” Hanako was torn between the desire to flee this weird situation, and fear that if she did, Miki might get even more angry with her. 

“Hanako...” Miki sounded weary as she stared at her. Hanako couldn’t maintain eye contact with Miki for long, but she kept flicking little glances at her, wondering what, exactly, Miki was going on about. Miki rubbed the back of her head and shook her head. “Goddammit, I’m not good at this touchy-feely shit,” she muttered.

Hanako was glancing up at Miki when her expression changed from annoyance to…something different. Something softer, that Hanako didn’t recognize. 

Before Hanako could decipher Miki’s expression, Miki muttered softly, “Ah, fuck it,” and wrapped her arms around Hanako, pulling her into a hug. 

Hanako froze, petrified, half expecting some sort of attack, but the only assault coming from Miki was the smell of her sweat. Fresh sweat, and surprisingly not unpleasant. A slightly musky, warm animal smell, that seemed perfectly suited to Miki. 

She felt like they stood there like that for several subjective hours before she could believe that Miki’s actions were benign. Slowly, hesitantly, Hanako raised her arms in turn, to embrace Miki back. 

She forced herself to hold onto Miki gently, so that Miki could escape her if she came to her senses, although she wanted to cling to her with all her might, to keep her close. She bowed her head and rested it gently on Miki’s shoulder. It felt a little odd to be hugging someone shorter than Lilly, but it was still good.

“I dunno what’s going on with you,” Miki said softly. “But you looked like you could use a hug.”

Hanako nodded against Miki’s shoulder. “Yes,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

Miki chuckled, and squeezed her a little tighter for a moment. “No prob.”

After a minute that felt like forever and yet was too short, Miki loosened her hold on Hanako, and Hanako did likewise, taking a step back away from Miki. She tried to surreptitiously wipe her eyes on her sleeve. “Th-thanks.”

Miki nodded and smiled awkwardly. “Yeah, well…I’m not so good at the talky-feely stuff, but I’m always good for something more physical.” Her smile became more cheerfully licentious as she added, “But I’m already booked for tonight.”

Hanako blushed and nodded. “So I…heard.”

Miki laughed and said, “Yeah, his ass isn’t his only sterling quality,” which only increased Hanako’s blush as she pictured Reiichi walking away from her again. 

“Listen, I gotta get back to practice, or Gentaro’ll give me more punishment laps.” Miki started walking down the woodland path to the main path. Hanako followed silently. When they got to the paved path, Miki stopped and did a few brief stretches, which Hanako watched, envious of the other woman’s strength and flexibility. 

“D’you like anime?” Miki asked, apropos of nothing that Hanako could apprehend. 

“Um…some?”

“Well, I’m busy tonight, but d’you wanna swing by my room tomorrow night and watch _Minami-ke_?”

That was _not_ an anime that Hanako would have predicted that Miki would like; far too cutesy and girly. But she didn’t want to offend, so she said, “Th-that sounds…fun.”

“Cool.” Miki grinned. “And I can tell you all about how my meet-up with Reiichi went.”

Hanako’s blush returned. “Ah…th-that’s…”

“See ya!” Miki turned and took off running toward school at an easy lope. Hanako stared at her retreating form for a long moment, bemused by their encounter and interactions. How had she gotten from voyeurism to watching anime?

 _Well…at least I got a hug out of it._ She smiled to herself. A hug from a very unexpected source, true, but maybe, just maybe, something more might come of it. She started back to school too, at a more sedate pace than Miki’s, and found herself humming the _Minami-ke_ theme song under her breath as she went. 


End file.
